You’d think no one had ever heard of “A Christmas Carol,” what with all the talk of Apple’s specter leaving a shadow over CES and the technology industry. Dickens’ story about character and reform is meant to teach many things, but perhaps the greatest lesson is that nothing is ever haunted by one ghost. The past, the present, and the future each have their own unique apparition, and Apple is merely the ghost of technology’s present. Google, one might argue, is the ghost of technology’s future.

Apple’s influence is undeniable. Whether it’s tablet industry and the iPad, the smartphone industry and the iPhone, or the television industry and the ever-rumored Apple television, there isn’t a product that doesn’t get compared to Apple’s offering in one way or another. Apple defined or is rumored to be entering these markets, and the company has become the yardstick for product quality in each.

But Google is starting to rise from the shadows and edge in on Apple’s territory. We’ve covered Google’s rise in mobile fairly heavily, from its “Go everywhere!” (except Windows Phone) strategy to its ability to create the “uber app” that offers the utility of many other, smaller services. The ghost of technology future is slowly but surely coming into view.

Or, as the case may be, not so slowly. Android dominates mobile market share, out-pacing Apple and practically obliterating everyone else. The operating system is popular in established and emerging markets alike, powering everything from expensive, high-end smartphones or the cost-friendly Nexus 4 and everything in between. There isn’t a category of smartphone or tablet that Android doesn’t touch. As we move towards new kinds of devices, like the increasingly popular “phablet,” this adaptability and nigh-ubiquitous presence will likely widen the gap between Android and its competitors.

Android users are also more likely to be loyal than users of other operating systems, according to Nielsen’s SVP of digital analytics, Scott Brady. For example, 39 percent of Samsung device owners are “loyal” to the brand, a 9 percent increase over last year. Apple device owners, however, have slipped from 91 percent to 79 percent in the last year, a fairly large slide for a brand known to produce especially loyal customers. And, even if customers do jump ship from Samsung to another manufacturer, the saturation of the market improves the likelihood of that switch being to another Android device maker.

Let’s put smartphones and tablets aside for a moment, though. It’s long been established that Android is the mobile kingpin, to the point that other operating systems and manufacturers, including Jolla’s Sailfish, RIM’s BlackBerry 10, and AMD with Windows, are moving to support the Android ecosystem to bolster their own. Google is also in a position to take over the television industry, and it can do so without making a television set.

Google already has a presence in the living room with Google TV. The software had a surprising number of supporters at CES, and its interface “feels” better than competing solutions. Even without Google TV, though, Google has a chance to grab the living room. Not by building the screen, but by building a new method for delivering content. Yep, we’re talking about Google Fiber.

4K, the stupendously mega ultra high-definition resolution that dominated the floors of Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisesnse, and others at CES, could make Internet-based distribution even more appealing. If videogame consoles are going to support the resolution (which is unlikely for at least a few years) or move to a wholly digital distribution model those Google-built pipes – or their equivalent – are going to shift from “kinda cool” to almost necessary for anyone who wants to use all of those glorious pixels for something other than download progress bars.

Google is also one of the main companies sponsoring public WiFi, allowing people in New York, San Francisco, and many airports in between to take advantage of a free Internet connection. As this “WiFi as advertisement” movement continues to gain speed Google will get itself and its products in front of more and more potential users.

The company isn’t only solving #firstworldconnectionproblems. It’s also offering data to emerging markets via Free Zone, which allows users in emerging markets to access Google+, Google Search (and other websites, provided they appear in the search results), and Gmail without a data plan. Whether you’re connecting to the Internet via a smartphone, tablet, and laptop or a “dumbphone,” Google wants to make it a little bit cheaper and maybe, just maybe, control the experience as well.

Again, Google is mastering the art of indirect warfare. Android doesn’t have to win in order for Google to win. Google Fiber doesn’t have to take over the US market if it convinces other ISPs to change their practices. It doesn’t matter to Google what technology you use so long as you use it to access its products and services.

Apple doesn’t have that luxury. It very much matters to the company (and its bottom line) that people buy its products. Excepting iTunes’ presence on Windows, if you aren’t buying Apple products they aren’t making any money off of you. Or, put another way: Apple wins if you open your wallet and purchase a device with an Apple logo on its back. Google wins if you get online. Which sounds like the future?

So yes, Apple may have haunted the halls of CES and could have television set makers and content providers by the gnarlies. Still, the ghost of technology’s future will come, and its headquarters may be in Mountain View, not Cupertino.

Facebook has introduced Scrapbook, a new feature that allows parents to share and collect images of their children in one place without requiring them to worry about tagging their kids’ face with each other’s names just to make sure they don’t miss what the other person has posted. [Source: Facebook]

“For all the clumsy rhetorical lip service [former Yahoo News head] Guy Vidra pays to The New Republic’s hallowed intellectual traditions, this is what his vision of a nimble digital news product finally translates into: a vaguely journalistic veneer strategically designed to conceal a rancid interior of ‘elevated’ advertising.”

Indian e-commerce company Flipkart is said to be raising $600 million in its latest bid to compete with Amazon. The company is also said to have garnered a higher valuation with this funding round — quite the feat, considering it was previously valued at around $11.5 billion. [Source: The Economic Times]

Here comes another unicorn: Sprinklr, a New York-based marketing company, has raised $46 million at a $1.17 billion valuation. The funds will be used to help the 700-person company expand its marketing platform. [Source: Fortune]

Curator, the tool Twitter created so the media could find and share tweets with its audience, is now available to the public. Because if there’s anything people wanted to see more of, it’s tweets randomly inserted into blog posts, television spots, and other forms of media. [Source: TechCrunch]

A court in France has decided not to ban Uber’s low-cost services until the country’s highest appeals court, or its supreme court, weigh in on the constitutionality of a new transport law. [Source: The Wall Street Journal]

Tinder is refocusing on its spam-fighting efforts in the wake of reports that movie studios are using the service to promote their movies, scammers are attempting to steal information via the app, and pranksters have created tools that trick heterosexual men into flirting with each other. [Source: The Verge]

Uber offers drivers whose accounts have been deactivated a choice: attend a class that requires them to pass an exam, or take a class that doesn’t. The latter has been informed by Uber employees, and the company has sent thousands of drivers to it, according to a report from BuzzFeed. Why is that a problem? Because Uber isn’t supposed to provide its drivers with formal training; doing so makes them bona fide employees, not independent contractors. [Source: BuzzFeed]

Flipboard users will now be able to collect articles and share them via private magazines visible only to members of certain groups. The feature is aimed at students working in the same class, companies sharing press coverage, and other groups that might want an easy way to share Web pages with each other without having to use public tools like Facebook or Twitter. [Source: Flipboard]

T-Mobile has tasked its customers with creating a real-world coverage map that makes it easier to tell where its service works and where it doesn’t. Instead of guessing at where its customers will get service — which is what other carriers do, the company claims — it’s asking people to verify its predictions so it can be more honest with consumers. [Source: T-Mobile]